


What Princesses Wear

by TheKinkAwakens (thekinkawakens)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 02:38:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6782029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekinkawakens/pseuds/TheKinkAwakens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey has never seen clothes as beautiful as the ones in Leia's old holos.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Princesses Wear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spookykingdomstarlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/gifts).



Rey sat on the ground next to Leia's table. She was still recovering from a nasty encounter with an acidic plant on a planet that was known for Jedi artifacts. While her skin was healing she'd offered to help the general go over logistics while Master Luke continued to search the planet.

When she'd offered to help she really had been planning on helping. But patience and paperwork had never been her strong points. Two hours in and she found herself going through a disk of holos Leia had archived over the years. Leia had handed it to her to make her sit down and stop pacing. A part of Rey wanted to resent being treated like a child, but mostly she was just happy for the distraction. 

She flipped to another holo of Leia in a pure gold dress that was hemmed with blue stones. "You use to wear such beautiful clothes," she said. She blushed when she realized what she'd said. "Not that you don't now. Or, well, I mean clothing probably doesn't matter to a general," she said with a wince. She'd been working on watching what she said, but after years of living the life of a lonely scavenger she still tended to catch herself too late. 

Thankfully Leia just smiled. "Yes, I use to care more about how I dressed. As a princess it was expected of me. I never came anywhere near the passion my mother had for clothing though. Her gowns were part of her power. There's been entire texts written on the topic. There is a power to be found in presentation."

Leia reached over and pulled up a holo. Rey barely held in a gasp. She had heard from Luke that the senator had been powerful, and wise. He'd mentioned in passing once that she had also been beautiful. But she hadn't been expecting to see someone who looked like they belonged to a different realm.

"And she really wasn't force sensitive?" Rey asked. The woman seemed to shine with light and energy.

"Not that anyone knew of. No, she was powerful in a different way," Leia said. There was something in Leia's voice that Rey couldn't figure out.

"I can't imagine wearing something so beautiful," Rey said. The photo faded and another of Padme was pulled up. This time the senator was in a red dress with a long train that seemed to be made entirely of roses. "But then, I've only ever worn rags."

"I wouldn't call what you wear rags," Leia said.

Rey hummed in agreement but she knew the truth. She'd worn the rough white cloth that was available on Jakku for years in whatever designs the old lady at the trading post would sew for her. When she was young the long flowing fabrics had seemed fit for a princess, she'd adored each design the woman had made. Now that she'd seen what people wore on other planets she was aware that she'd been wearing the cloths of a poor scavenger, worlds away from a merchant, let alone a princess. 

She sighed as another holo appeared. She wondered if there were still people in the galaxy who dressed like Padme. On the base people tended to wear military clothes, or practical uniforms. She supposed a few people on trading bases had worn extravagant clothing, but nothing that compared to what was in the holos.

She flushed when she realized Leia was still looking at her. She put the holo down and picked up the pad containing the supply numbers again. It wasn't likely that she'd get any further than the last time she'd tried to make sense of them, but she didn't want Leia to kick her out for not helping. 

Leia made a point of yawning before she got up and stretched. "That's probably enough for now," she said. She put her pad away into a drawer and locked it before turning to Rey. "You know, you were right when you said generals had more important things to do then dress nicely. I haven't worn a proper gown in years, but I still have a huge closets full of them taking up space in my quarters. I've actually been thinking about getting rid of them. None of them are much in style anymore, but if you'd like to take a look through you could see if there's any that you'd like."

"Really?" Rey asked as she almost dropped her own pad in her haste to stand up as well. 

"If you'd like. I don't have any use for them," Leia said.

"I don't know when I'd wear them," Rey said, hesitating. 

"Trust me. When you're young the opportunity to wear gowns comes up more than you'd expect," Leia said. "And if nothing else you'll have something to wear around base when you get grounded again."

Rey wanted to deny that she was going to get grounded again, but she was on her third time of being out of commission for missions since finishing training a year ago. As Master Luke would say, she lacked patience. Not having anything to do would be better in a nice dress. "If you're sure," she said.

"Absolutely," Leia said. "Follow me."


End file.
